You'd Better Lock Your BUM in place (read for the explanation of that joke)

What is UP my favorite friends and family!! How are all of you doing today?!?! I am absolutely doing FANTASTIC, thank you so much for mentally asking me!

But in all seriousness I am seriously doing great right now. The MTC is one of the coolest places on earth, and I have loved every single second here! There is no place I'd rather be! Sadly, I fly out of here to Syracuse, New York on Tuesday and I will have to leave all these wonderful people and this beautiful place behind! I don't want to leave these friends I've made and come to love so so much, but Elder Boyce said something really powerful last night. He said, "The people in our missions need us more than we need each other". I will miss my district a LOT but I know that they are off to do some of the most amazing things that the Lord has in store for them!

But hey hey hey! Let's get into the rundown of the week eh?

So! On Sunday we had some really awesome time all to ourselves to really sit and ponder (that means think carefully with prayer and purpose) about our own relationship with God, our Heavenly Father. It was a really meaningful and powerful experience, and I loved it so much! There was a lot that I learned about how much He loves me, and I can testify that He loves each of you as well!

Tuesday was another long day of classes, but we had the opportunity to clean up some of the residence halls for the next batch of missionaries coming in which was super fun! We also had the opportunity to start up a fun activity where we each go around and say something we love about someone. So for example, Everyone would go around and talk about how much they love my companion, and then we would go on and say what we love about the next missionary in line, and so on and so forth. It was really awesome, and we were all able to talk about how much we care for the amazing Sisters in our district. The hardest part was that we were not able to give them a hug (that's the missionary rules, and we know that exact obedience saves lives).

Then on Tuesday we had a General Authority of the Church (that means a leader of our Church) come and speak to us! His name is Elder Nash of the Quorum of Seventy and it was really awesome! I got to sing in the choir for him, and I was up on the very first row! It was AWESOME!

Wednesday was just incredible. We were all going around in our district reading from the words of Jesus Christ found in the Book of Mormon. We were specifically reading in 3 Nephi 17 where Jesus is visiting and healing the people of the ancient Americas, and Sister Hughes asked the question, "If Jesus was here right now, who would you ask Him to heal?" The Holy Spirit then just fell on the room like a blanket. It was amazing. We all felt so much love for the people in our lives, and I just knew that these missionaries were going to change a lot of people's lives. This was also the day that the new missionaries came in! It was crazy to think that we had been in the MTC a whole week, and boy oh boy those missionaries looked way too preppy. Six hours of class gets to you eventually.

Thursday was another GREAT day, and mostly because of how much I laughed. Sister Harris is HILARIOUS! So this day, I sang the song "Pete the Cat and the Four Groovy Buttons" and everyone was laughing SO HARD! I love that song! Then, I'm dancing around singing songs (like I always do) and Elder Hofhiens is just SO done with me. I've been singing silly songs, and dancing like a maniac for about a week now, and it makes everyone join in a laugh along. Now here's the explanation of the title of my email. You see, missionaries are not allowed to fall in love while on a mission. For obvious reasons (you will be gone for two years, and you are serving the Lord, so focus is key). So there is a phrase that we all say as kind of a joke which is "lock your heart", which means "hey watch out and don't fall in love". Now we say this as a joke when someone compliments someone else. For example, Sister Holmes could say, "cool tie Elder Cundick!" (he has the best ties) and everyone will yell "LOCK YOUR HEART SISTER!" And it's great. So, we were saying these kinds of jokes on Thursday as I am dancing around having fun, and Elder Hofhiens, my companion whom I love so much, just growls with pure annoyance and absolute fed-upness "Elder Taylor, you'd better lock your BUM in place". We all started DYING laughing because he wasn't annoyed, it was just the way he said it! For sure the highlight of my week, and we quote it all the time now. But yeah! It was a GREAT day! I love these people!

Yesterday, Friday, was also such an amazing day! We had some really awesome discussions about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and we really just had a lot of fun outside of class too. We went out and played kickball with another district, and got totally destroyed... not really but we lost 10-9. Anyway, it was just an amazing day. At the end of the day we saw some parasailers, and something just plummeted out of the sky. No idea what it was, but if someone sees on the news something about parasailers above Provo Utah crashing, I saw it happen.

Today is my P-day, and I get to go to the temple again! I am so excited!

Before I end this crazy, long, and crazy long email, I want to share a scripture with y'all about how we can do good things. This verse is found in Alma 7 verse 24 of the Book of Mormon, and it reads "see that ye have faith, hope, and charity, and then ye will always abound in good works". This shows us that when we hope for the best, believe in our cause, and love other people, we will be doing good things.

I love you all so very much, and so does your Heavenly Father! Thank you for all you do, and all your prayers! Please feel free to shoot me an email, because I love to hear from you!

Keep on singing your song! (even in Norwegian)

Love,

Elder Taylor